Fiesta driver banned for 131mph offence

​A driver of a Ford Fiesta has been banned after being caught speeding at 131mph.

Benjamin Brandon, 23, was handed a 56-day driving ban and ordered to pay £322 in fines after driving at nearly double the 70mph speeding limit on the A52 in Borrowash.

He overtook an unmarked police car at about midnight on 30 August, although a police spokesperson said ‘there was other traffic on the road’.

Inspector Darren Roberts, of the Derbyshire roads policing unit, said, ‘For a member of the public to drive at 131mph on a busy dual carriageway shows total disregard for other road users. This speed roughly equates to travelling at 60 metres per second, giving other road users little chance to avoid a collision.

‘Driving is unpredictable and if something unexpected happens on the road ahead, it’s a driver’s speed that will determine whether they can stop in time and, if they can’t, how hard they will hit another vehicle, pedestrian or object.

‘Speeding is one of the four major risk factors in fatal crashes, together with drink and drug-driving, using a mobile phone and failing to wear a seatbelt.

‘At 70mph, the thinking distance is 21 metres and the braking distance is 75 metres, so a total stopping distance of 96 metres. Even on a dry road, the stopping distance at 131mph would be about 600 metres.

‘This clearly puts the driver at serious risk, as well as other people using the roads around them.’